# When Lead Time Passes Two Weeks

Source: https://ivankamenken.com/lead-time-above-two-weeks · Last updated 2 November 2026

Your booking lead time has sat above two weeks for a month, and the question of another crew still waits for you to find time. Ivanka Menken uses the Step-Out Log inside Letting-Go Mentoring, a 6-month 1:1 programme at AUD $1,500 per month ex GST, to hand one decision to a named leader: the weekly lead-time read and the trigger that raises the hiring question. You leave with one written entry: the owner, the trigger, the escalation line and a 14-day test.

## Booked out, and the crew question keeps waiting

- New customers are told the first opening is more than two weeks away.
- You are the only person who reads the schedule as a whole.
- Nobody else is allowed to say the business needs another crew.

**THE MOMENT:** It is Friday afternoon. The office tells a new customer the first opening is nearly three weeks away, and the customer says they will try someone else. Your operations lead knows the schedule better than you do by now. But the schedule changes, the overtime calls and the question of another crew all wait for you, and you have not looked at the whole board since Tuesday.

### THE SCHEDULE, AS IT STANDS

- Lead time: above two weeks for a month
- Weekly read of the board: the founder, when there is time
- Schedule changes: approved by the founder
- Crew or technician question: raised by nobody
- Operations lead: ready, waiting to be asked

## Squeeze in more jobs

In this case, the founder of a home-service business had crews booked out well past two weeks. The obvious fix was to squeeze more in: overtime, Saturday jobs, the founder back on the tools. It worked for a week. Then the lead time crept up again, the crews were tired, and the real question, whether the business needed another crew or technician, was still sitting on the founder’s desk with no date to answer it.

## Nobody else could read the number

Ivanka noticed the problem was not capacity alone. The founder was the only person allowed to read the lead time and say what it meant. The operations lead saw the board every day, but had no rule for when a long lead time became a hiring conversation, and no permission to start it. So the decision waited for the founder’s spare hour, which never came.

## An unwritten trigger, not a missing crew

The diagnosis was an unwritten trigger. A lead time consistently above two weeks is a clear signal to look at another crew or technician, but only if someone owns reading it and is allowed to raise it.
The reframe: hand over the read, not the hire. The operations lead reads the lead time every week and, when it passes the written line, brings the founder a crew case. The founder still makes the hiring call. What leaves the founder’s desk is the waiting.

> Hand over the read, not the hire. What leaves your desk is the waiting.

**The cost of staying stuck:** While only the founder reads the number, customers walk away at the three-week mark, crews run on overtime and the hiring question gets answered late, under pressure.

## The tool: Step-Out Log

The Step-Out Log is how Letting-Go Mentoring moves one decision at a time off the founder’s desk, with a named owner and a 14-day test. Here the decision is the weekly lead-time read and the trigger that turns it into a crew conversation.

It is one written entry. The decision that moves, the person who now owns it, the line that triggers the next step, what comes back to the founder, and the date of the review. For lead time: the operations lead reads it every Monday and brings a crew case when it stays above two weeks for three weeks running.

It replaces the founder glancing at the board when there is time, overtime as the default answer, and a hiring question nobody else is allowed to raise.

### What goes on the page

1. The decision: the weekly lead-time read
2. The owner: the operations lead, by name
3. The trigger: above two weeks, three weeks running
4. What happens then: a one-page crew case to the founder
5. What stays with the founder: the hiring decision itself
6. The test: 14 days, reviewed at the next session

It sits inside Letting-Go Mentoring, next to the Commitments-Kept Scorecard. One handover is written each fortnight and reviewed at the next session. Ivanka does not run recruitment or set your crew numbers. She helps you hand over the decision and keep out of it.

## One number, one owner, one line

In the session, Ivanka asked what the founder actually looked at when deciding whether the business needed another crew. The answer was the lead time, read late and alone. She asked who else could read it every week and what line would make it a conversation. Together they wrote one Step-Out Log entry: the operations lead reads the lead time every Monday, and above two weeks for three weeks running brings a crew case. The founder told the office and stayed off the board for 14 days.

### The questions

- What number tells you the business needs another crew?
- Who already sees that number every day?
- At what line does it become a hiring conversation?
- What do you want on the page when it reaches you?
- What would make you step back in early?

### THE FOUR-STEP LOOP

1. The one thing: The crew question, waiting for the founder.
2. The numbers: Lead time above two weeks for a month.
3. The story: Only I can tell when we need another crew.
4. The commitment: The weekly read to the operations lead, 14 days.

Before the next session, the operations lead read the lead time each Monday and logged it, the founder noted every urge to check the board, and both brought anything that came back.

## A number someone else reads

By month 6, the founder has moved the lead-time read and its trigger to the operations lead, has a written entry checked every fortnight, and the Commitments-Kept Scorecard shows which handovers stayed handed over.

**BEFORE**

- The founder read the board when there was time.
- Overtime answered every long lead time.
- Nobody else could raise the crew question.
- Customers walked away at the three-week mark.

**BY MONTH 6**

- The operations lead reads the lead time weekly.
- A written line triggers the crew case.
- The founder decides on a page, not a hunch.
- One handover reviewed every fortnight.

The programme is the container: 12 fortnightly 60-minute sessions, one handover each fortnight, and reviews at month 3 and month 6.

## Give the number to someone who reads it every week

Ivanka Menken built Letting-Go Mentoring for founders of $500K to $3M businesses who became the bottleneck. In a booked-out service business, the bottleneck is often the one person allowed to say what the schedule means.
This fits if your lead time keeps creeping past two weeks and the crew or hiring question waits for you. It does not fit if you want someone to recruit for you or to set your crew numbers. The decision in front of you is one number, one owner and one line. Write them down before next Monday.

> During our sessions Ivanka isn’t just talking theory. She is sharing her own lived experiences.
>
> Business owner

## Who fits, and who does not

### It fits

- You run a booked-out service business of $500K to $3M.
- Your lead time sits above two weeks more often than not.
- You have an operations lead or office manager who sees the board daily.
- You will stay off the board for 14 days.

### It does not fit

- You want a recruiter or someone to hire for you.
- You want crew numbers calculated for you.
- Nobody else in the business sees the schedule.
- You want to keep the final word on every schedule change.

### Investment

**AUD $1,500 per month ex GST, 6 months.** The Step-Out Log is part of Letting-Go Mentoring, a 6-month 1:1 programme at AUD $1,500 per month ex GST. It is not sold separately.

Included:

- 12 fortnightly 60-minute sessions
- One handover each fortnight
- The Commitments-Kept Scorecard
- Reviews at month 3 and month 6

Three founding places in total, shared across all 1:1 mentoring, are available at AUD $1,000/month ex GST, in return for honest monthly feedback and a testimonial, which can be anonymous.

- [Join Letting-Go Mentoring, AUD $1,500/mo, 6 months](https://buy.stripe.com/dRmbJ19u01y114SeUodQQ0v?utm_source=ivankamenken&utm_medium=showcase&utm_campaign=lead-time-above-two-weeks)
- [Book a 20-minute intro call](https://theartofservice.zohobookings.com.au/?utm_source=ivankamenken&utm_medium=showcase&utm_campaign=lead-time-above-two-weeks#/15606000001356030)
- [See the Letting-Go Mentoring programme](https://ivankamenken.com/letting-go-founder-mentoring)

## Questions about Step-Out Log

### Is two weeks of lead time the right line for my business?

It is a useful default for a home-service business: consistently above two weeks is a signal to look at another crew or technician. Your line may differ, and writing it down matters more than the exact number. Ivanka Menken helps you set it inside Letting-Go Mentoring, 6 months at AUD $1,500 per month ex GST.

### Does the operations lead decide to hire?

No. The operations lead owns the weekly read and the trigger, and brings a one-page crew case when the line is crossed. The hiring decision stays with you. What moves is the waiting. Ivanka Menken works through the entry with you inside Letting-Go Mentoring, 6 months at AUD $1,500 per month ex GST.

### What goes in the crew case?

Keep it to one page: the lead time for the past few weeks, the overtime the crews have worked, the jobs lost to the wait, and what another crew or technician would need to cover. Ivanka Menken helps you decide what you want to see inside Letting-Go Mentoring, 6 months at AUD $1,500 per month ex GST.

### How long is Letting-Go Mentoring?

Letting-Go Mentoring runs for 6 months at AUD $1,500 per month ex GST: twelve fortnightly 60-minute 1:1 sessions with Ivanka Menken, one handover each fortnight, the Commitments-Kept Scorecard and reviews at month 3 and month 6. The Step-Out Log is part of the programme and is not sold separately. A 20-minute intro call shows whether it fits.


## Hand over the lead-time read

If your lead time keeps passing two weeks and the crew question waits for you, start with Letting-Go Mentoring. The Step-Out Log is inside it, and the 20-minute intro call is where you can see whether the programme fits.

- [Join Letting-Go Mentoring, AUD $1,500/mo, 6 months](https://buy.stripe.com/dRmbJ19u01y114SeUodQQ0v?utm_source=ivankamenken&utm_medium=showcase&utm_campaign=lead-time-above-two-weeks)
- [Book a 20-minute intro call](https://theartofservice.zohobookings.com.au/?utm_source=ivankamenken&utm_medium=showcase&utm_campaign=lead-time-above-two-weeks#/15606000001356030)
- [See the Letting-Go Mentoring programme](https://ivankamenken.com/letting-go-founder-mentoring)
- [Test a hire against revenue cover](https://ivankamenken.com/salary-cover-test)
- [Hire in waves](https://ivankamenken.com/hire-in-waves-plan)
- [Hand over the daily lead chase](https://ivankamenken.com/daily-lead-chase-handover)
- [The Letting-Go Mentoring programme](https://ivankamenken.com/letting-go-founder-mentoring)

- Every way to work with Ivanka: https://ivankamenken.com/work-with-ivanka